First Impression:
The first impression of the housing is positive. The case comes in a large cardboard box 70x70x30, and functions by Styrofoam carrier securely packed.
Once freed from the plastic bag unfolds housing its full splendor. By the sleek but not played it very appealing design. The fan grille mesh are kept in a dark gray, thereby forming a subtle but nice contrast to the otherwise black finish. Of course, such design impressions are always highly subjective, so they should also account for only a small portion of the test, I wanted to mention it anyway.
Processing and appearance:
The processing of the phantom 630 can be described as good on the whole.
The panel gaps are all exemplary uniform, the built plastic looks at least from a distance of quality and feels anything but cheap to. The side panels can convince a sufficient torsional stiffness.
There are no sharp edges in the housing interior and the holes for screws and spacers are all applied appropriately.
On the other hand, however, the housing via the large Kunstoffeinsatz can not hide. Partly see the individual parts (upper and lower the steel walls) in their color depending on the light significantly different from that of a black appear lighter than the color of the other. The surface is not particularly scratch resistant, slipping with the USB stick for example, should be avoided. Even the side windows made of very thin acrylic can quickly have a lot, but inconspicuous scratches.
Another small complaint are the front door and the switch of the housing. The front door to work with a distinct sound, here they could mount a more effective rubber studs. Even the hinges are only made of plastic. But really cheap and in some cases difficult to operate the buttons on the device. Are the on and off buttons to accept in its form or the slider for the fan control is simply difficult to operate. It is very flat and slippery, and he wobbles around a bit and is not well secured. Here you could quiet a different material and a different shape of the switch can choose. In this price range you should because can expect more.
Features:
A big plus of the NZXT Phantom is the extensive facilities.
There are provided three large 185cm fan and a 120mm. Yes, you read correctly, other than those specified are at the fans to a maximum of 190mm fans. Why NZXT indicates the fan than 200mm models remains a mystery.
Despite these minor inconsistency the fan assembly used produced a very good draft which should keep even the most heated components to temperature. For details, see under power.
Not enough of the Airflow, nor a further 200mm fan at the top and a 120mm inside for cooling vorranging GPU and motherboard can be installed. The large fan models can also be flexibly replaced by smaller versions.
Thanks to the integrated fan controller allows up to ten fan drive (up to 30W) in three stages.
Rarely found in enclosures installed but here is an SD card reader. Unfortunately, however, it is not fitted with extreme precision, so it was tricky to insert a bit of an SD card, but in the end it has worked perfectly.
Exemplary is also the presence of dust filters in front of all entrances (at the front, the housing bottom) and the top of the lid. So the dust is less access in the off-state PC. On the other hand, the dust filters are tied to the installed fans or be attached to these, an installation of two 140mm fans or even the 120mm fans in the lid is possible only without dust filter. The cleaning of the dust filter is easily possible.
The housing are also a whole armada of screws, clean sorted in bags, but 5 HDD sled that can not convince in its quality and hard drive decoupling, several cable ties, guidance and advertise with. The HDD cage is divided into three different sized modules.
Installation:
How then designed the installation of the hardware in such a spacious housing? Very relaxing I have to say, it does make a lot more fun its components in a big tower rather than a midi tower as the Cooltek Timaeus to build. Even my Thermalright HR-02 Macho and my GTX 580 easily fit into the case and see equal less ugly concentrated than in the Timaeus. Graphics cards may be the way to about 32cm long, CPU coolers up to 19cm and power supplies up to 23.5cm. The case is also designed for XL-ATX, ATX and Micro-ATX motherboards, but inexplicably not for E-ATX boards.
The laying of cables, thanks to plenty of space behind the motherboard tray without any problems, even thick wiring harnesses can be laid up. The drives can be attached quickly and securely to a quick release lever, this was solved very well. The GPU and PCI expansion cards are secured by thumbscrews, but the screws were so firmly turns, which was necessary during the initial loosening a screw driver. Less happily succeeded the hard drive rails, they are made of plastic and very unstable, even when clamped hard drive you do not keep 100%. Even with my old Cooltek Timaeus, which is erwerblich for the third of the price, here metal was used, enabling more stable rails.
However, extra praise earn the hard drive cages. They are easy to see, even if scratches are quickly left behind, and to use extremely flexible. Thus, you can choose exactly where and how the hard drives are installed.
SSDs are easily mounted on the back in the designated holders (x2).
Overall, a total of faster, easier and very tidy installation of hardware is therefore entirely possible, despite the weakness in the hard drive rails.
Volume:
The volume of the built-up fan, I can not judge only subjectively by ear, a measuring device is not available to me.
The levels of fan control and the speeds of the fans, however, were in my opinion, well chosen. At Level 3, the fans are clearly audible, they clack or not grind and thus the sound is still bearable. At Level 2, the fans are much quieter and this stage constitutes a good compromise between cooling performance and Lautsärke.
The 1st stage lets the fan turn very slowly, here drowned my graphics card in the IDLE case fan already.
Cooling capacity:
The measurements were in the housing is closed, at Serienbestück the fan, under full load, ie with Prime95 and FurMark activated and thus 100% in detecting utilization of CPU and GPU, and at 22 ° C ambient temperature:
GPU:
Min / average 60 ° C, 63 ° C
Med / on average 56 ° C, -
Max / 54 ° C, 57 ° C
CPU:
Min / 40 ° C, 50 ° C
Med / 38 ° C, -
Max / 35 ° C, 42 ° C
Legend: Min / Med / Max are each the level of fan control, the first indication of temperature is that of the Phantom 630, the next of Cooltek Timaeus. The room temperature during the measurements with the Timaeus was 21 ° C, please note!
Assessment of cooling capacity:
The NZXT Phantom 630 provides excellent cooling. The differences in the GPU keep within limits and fall by an average of 3 ° C better, there is at the CPU large temperature differences between the two housings. Whole 10 ° C on Level 1 of the fan control and 7 ° C difference when the fans give everything (Max), speak for themselves. Here the Macho seems highly benefit from the rückwertigem 120mm and 190mm fan in the large lid.
Others:
- Fan cable are indeed black, but not sleeved.
- There is no real possibility of the Case sure to touch the ground, as one always pulls out the dust filter with at that shifts.
- HDD cages left partly distinct scratches in housing with mounting and dismounting.
- Two small white LEDs to illuminate the rear connections
Conclusion:
The NZXT Phantom 630 is again once a successful case thoroughly and leaves an overall positive impression.
It convinces with its large space, its excellent cooling performance and thanks to adjustable fan speed pleasant everyday use.
Some minor details, such as a little too easily scratchable surface or unhappy in some places selected materials spoil the overall impression a bit, however, interfere in everyday life hardly. That's why -> 5 stars (or 4einhalb ;-))
